I’ve just passed the 5th chicken graffiti tag in our east village neighborhood…

Who is this masked chicken creator? Perdue, Cluck-U?

-but really, a chicken as your tag? Come-on… When I think graffiti- I think political message or a tagged name or some kind of artistic symbol. A giant ill-rendered chicken on the side of Rite-Aid on E 5th Street isn’t the mark of creative brilliance, its a nuisance.

However, el pollo – obviously has sparked my interest and he doesn’t seem to be letting down.

Lets take a moment to discuss some other noted NYC graffiti mysteries:

The most current conundrum:

“Don’t Walk Away in Silence“

This is actually a pretty beautiful statement written by some “politico” graffiti artist. Turns out unfortunately, that the statement was written on the wall of a middle school. But all highly politicized graffiti stories tend to end well, or at least on a positive note. An anonymous donor donated $100 to repaint the desecrated wall. The Gothamist writes that the line written on the wall was actually a line from a Joy Division Song- meant to commemorate the death of Ian Curtis (more on bizarre memorials here- well soon, next post).

If someone from Cornelia Connelly Center is reading this- I’d happily volunteer my time and repaint the wall with the statement in some middle-school like mural… rather than covering up, embracing this spray paint may cause less grief and prevent further incidents- while still maintaining this positive message.

Jewish car donation in williamsburg

This mystery has been solved… but its too hysterical not to mention.

It seems that a large billboard in Williamsburg that had been advertising car donation specifically targeted towards the Jewish population in Williamsburg was defaced. The billboard, according to the Gothamist was defaced because the boy was not “jewish looking” enough- and offended some of the devote practitioners in the neighborhood.

In the face of adversity, the organization chose a different route for their second billboard, they made the kid more jewish looking and added their own graffiti in Yiddish to deter vandals. Pre-emptive defacing… apparently a whole new genre of graffiti making, destroy your own property before “they” do.

So back to the chicken…. I implore you, solve this chicken graffiti mystery for me, send me photos of more chickens and respond with your own conspiracy theories (They’re everywhere” and a hem, let’s get cracking!

Bring a blanket, snacks, and arrive early, really early- around 5pm, to stake your territory. Films begin at sunset and is a perfect way to forget about your Monday all summer long.

http://www.bryantpark.org/

June 18 -Annie Hall (1977)
June 25 – The Thing – From Another World (1951)
July 2 -Paper Moon (1973)
July 9- Wait Until Dark (1967)
July 16- To Sir, With Love (1967)
July 23- The Sting (1973)
July 30- All The King’s Men (1949)
August 6- Bus Stop (1956)
August 13 -Casablanca (1942)
August 20 -Psycho (1960)

2. Waterless pool parties at McCarren park pool
Take the L train to Williamsburg and spend your hungover Sunday afternoon in the sun listening to free music. McCarren park pool, reopened last summer and dubbed the best new space for live music in ny is a condemned public pool from the 1960′s. Come play in the cement playground with 5,000 other hipsters, watch dodgeball tournaments and wait in line for beer. Bring a blanket and your hula hoop for a sweet afternoon.

JUNE 24, Superchunk, Oakley Hall
JULY 1, Man Man, Illinois, Dengue Fever
JULY 8, Dan Deacon, Erase Errata, Octopus Project
AUGUST 5, Blonde Redhead, I’m From Barcelona
AUGUST 12, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Thermals, Birds of Avalon
AUGUST 19, Ghostland Observatory

http://www.thepoolparties.com/events.php

3. Tall Boys on the Staten Island Ferry

NYC’s best kept secret is the Staten Island Ferry. Leaving every half hour or so, the Staten Island ferry is a FREE! boat ride to and from Manhattan to Staten Island, a route that is so scenic, you can’t believe that more people don’t take advantage of this trip. From the ferry you can see lower Manhattan, the statue of liberty, governor’s island among other awesome landmarks. To sweeten the deal, The ferry has an on-board snack bar and sells tall boy beers. Take a round-trip on the ferry after work, in place of happy hour.

http://www.siferry.com/

4. Picnic and Music at Central Park

More free music! different location… grab another blanket and enjoy classical music or opera on these days. Philharmonic days are followed by fireworks on the great lawn.

http://www.centralparknyc.org/activities/specialevents?o5103177=

New York Philharmonic
Wednesday, July 11, 8:00 pm

New York Philharmonic
Tuesday, July 17, 8:00 pm

Metropolitan Opera: LA BOHEME
Tuesday, June 12, 8:00 pm

Metropolitan Opera: FAUST
Wednesday, June 13, 8:00 pm

The Arcade fire played at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights (175th st!) last night – to put this in perspective, we got out of the subway at the George Washington Bridge.

At first thought, it seemed that the Arcade Fire’s booking agent should have be fired, them playing four shows this week in NYC and not one in Brooklyn- or lower Manhattan for that matter. But low and behold me and a full subway car full of ill-cut bangs and tight black pants made the Arcade Fire pilgrimage north.

The Arcade fire has been known to play unique venues (Judson Memorial Church and this venue lived up to this expectation. As an old fashioned venue for “movies and vaudeville hit shows” -their website states, (what the hell is a vaudeville hit show)? The United Place, quite literally looks like a palace. With gold trimmings and velour padded seating, it did look like we were attending the theater rather than a rock show.

The National seemed to be having an OFF night. We arrived at 8:03 (the show began at 8) and the National was already playing – points for punctuality boys. This worked to our advantage as we snuck up to row F from our sad row W seats to watch.

The lead seemed to have injured his ankle prior to the show, (or in the first 3 minutes of the set) -although sitting next to me I was contested on this fact, they thought that the guy was, “just feeling it” – either way, he was definitely feeling something, because all of the band’s energy fell into that limping foot and his voice continually trailed off due to his holding this mic anywhere but in front of his mouth.

But I’d prefer to write about the better half of the show…

Whatever energy, or presence was lacking with the National, the Arcade Fire multiplied it and captivated its audience. Starting with calling people in the back up of the stage to fill up the front and aisles and ending with piling his front stage with fans. Win Bulter made us believe that his music was just for us. Arcade Fire had enormous stage presence – besides the initial shock of seeing the 8+ people on stage (my first time seeing them live), every song sounded better in person. There was no lack of instrumentation either – complete with an organ, cello and several other large unidentifiable instruments made their sound completely authentic and not easily replicated.

I was really happy that they played from both albums and even more surprised how well music from both their albums meshed together as I had really read them as disparate sounds.

To sum it up, the Arcade fire put on a hell of a show and really went above and beyond with the whole experience -from the venue to the treatment of their fans and the choice of music that they played. Totally worth the trip.

*And as an aside- go see anything at this theater, its breathtaking in of itself.

*And as another aside, next to the prior aside- the Arcade Fire took a few “artistic liberties” in regards to the palace fire safety such as asking to crowd the aisles/ rushing the stage… and this may have some negative impact on us seeing other fantastic non-operatic events there… but even if it does, I’m happy I got to go before the party ended.

Prior to the 2007 WFMU Fundraising Event, (which conveniently coincided with Tom’s pernicious threat of podcast termination) we asked ourselves, “How can I, a lowly Friend of Tom, help save the podcast?” While we all know that the answer lies in selflessly donating your savings to WFMU*, an alternative solution was devised.

What better way to attract new listeners, increase fellowship and vastly improve the likelihood of delightfully outrageous phone calls to Tom than to combine the Best Show with everyone’s** favorite late-night beverage: alcohol! With this I give to you The Unofficial Best Show on WFMU Drinking Game.

the drunkest you can be is just a little less drunk than
the best show drinking game…

Drink Every Time That:

1. Tom blatantly mispronounces a word or proper name
2. Someone gets GOMP’ed
3. Tom references an obscure person or thing that you don’t know
4. Tom talks to Associate Producer Mike behind the glass
   1. Bonus if you actually hear Mike’s elusive voice on the air
5. Tom plugs WFMU: “Mount Hope … world wide on the world wide web”
6. Chug for the duration of a caller’s ‘Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?’
7. Every time Werner is referenced
   1. Bonus if someone mentions that he looks like Rutger Hauer
8. Tom’s caller is clearly up past their bed time
9. If Tom doesn’t like something… he loves it!
10. Finish your drink if the show is ruled an ‘L’
11. If Tom mentions the Best Show’s paltry podcast listenership
12. Finish your drink if a caller threatens Tom’s life

Suggestions on additions to the game are welcome and encouraged… Drop them right into the comments for this post.

* Although I jest about Tom’s devious ploy to attract capital during the WFMU Fundraiser, I truly believe that as one of the few listener-supported radio stations in the country, WFMU does in fact deserve whatever you can afford them.

** ‘Everyone’ includes only those over the legal drinking age of 21.  Coke Blak will be regarded as an acceptable alternative.

This page is in no way affiliated with WFMU, The Best Show, or Tom Sharpling